Little-known Apple feature that helps car sickness sufferers

People are raving about a “game-changing” new way to overcome an unpleasant yet common condition many of us suffer with in a car.

Sitting in the passenger seat of a car is, arguably, one of the best times to get some life admin done.

But unfortunately, staring at a phone screen while in a moving vehicle can result in an array of unpleasant symptoms, such as dizziness, nausea and sweating. In extreme cases, it can even cause vomiting.

So that work email you need to reply to? It usually has to wait.

Motion sickness is common, occurring in around 25 per cent of people, and happens when the movement you see is different from what your inner ear senses, explained Sydney medical practitioner Dr Zac Turner.

Around 1 in 4 people suffer from car sickness, also known as motion sickness and travel sickness. Picture: TikTok/@kayleeandrew18

“Car sickness is a common issue that happens when your brain gets confused about motion,” he told news.com.au.

“Essentially your eyes, inner ear (which helps with balance), and body are all sending different signals to your brain.

“For example while you’re sitting still in a car, your inner ear is picking up the movement as the car accelerates, turns, or stops. But if you’re looking down at a book or your phone or stationary object and not seeing the movement, your eyes aren’t getting the same message.

“Your brain gets a little mixed up, and this confusion can lead to nausea, dizziness, and that feeling of discomfort.

“Think of it like trying to follow directions from two people who keep giving you conflicting instructions. Your brain doesn’t know who to trust, and it ends up feeling pretty unsettled. It’s all about sensory overload.”

The unpleasant phenomenon, also known as travel sickness, doesn’t just happen in cars. It can also take hold on a train, airplane, boat, or amusement park ride.

While there are various different treatments to help prevent and ease its symptoms, for most sufferers, the easiest option is often to avoid triggers though admittedly this isn’t always possible.

But Australian author and beauty mogul, Zoe Foster-Blake, has just shared a recent hack she has discovered that enables her to “reply to emails in the car for the first time EVER without wanting to spew”.

The mum-of-two’s discovery was actually a recent feature on Apple iOS 18 update towards the end of last year, called Vehicle Motion Cues, which works by “helping reduce the discrepancy between the motion you’re feeling and the stillness of what you’re seeing on your screen by adjusting the display on your phone,” Dr Zac explained.

“When you use your phone in a moving car, the phone’s screen tends to have a fixed layout that doesn’t account for the car’s motion, contributing to that sensory disconnect we just talked about.

“With this feature, the display is designed to adjust the content based on the movement, making it less likely for your brain to get that ‘wait, what’s going on?’ feeling.

“So it works by stabilising the content and minimising rapid, conflicting signals. The phone is essentially offering you smoother, more consistent feedback, so your brain doesn’t get as confused by the motion around you.”

Zoe Foster Blake recently shared a way she has overcome car sickness with her followers. Instagram/Zoe Foster Blake

She described Apple’s Vehicle Motion Cue feature as 'sorcery'. Picture: Instagram/Zoe Foster Blake

When turning on the feature in the settings section on an iPhone, Apple said animated dots on the edges of the screen will appear, which represent changes in vehicle motion to help reduce sensory conflict without interfering with the main content.

Using sensors built into iPhone and iPad, Vehicle Motion Cues recognises when a user is in a moving vehicle and responds accordingly. The feature can be set to show automatically on iPhone, or can be turned on and off in Control Centre.

Foster-Blake isn’t the only fan, with many social media users raving about the recent iPhone feature.

“It genuinely works well and helps me with motion sickness,” wrote one on a dedicated Reddit thread discussing the feature.

“This should be a ‘must-have’ on all smart devices,” another raved.

As someone else added: “It’s surprisingly good.”

“It’s changed car journeys for me,” chipped in one more.

“As someone who suffers from motion sickness, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well this worked. A game changer,” said one more.

These tiny dots help reduce the discrepancy between the motion you’re feeling and the stillness of what you’re seeing on your screen when in the car. Picture: TikTok/@tailormadetech

Many iPhone users are only just discovering the software feature, with one car sickness sufferer sharing on TikTok recently that it had “helped so much”.

“In the car, I cannot be on my phone whatsoever. I can’t post Stories, I can’t look at Stories at all because I feel like I am going to throw up,” explained Kaylee Andrew.

But after discovering Apple’s little-known feature, she’s now able to get stuff done while travelling.

Many agreed it was great, describing it as a “life saver” and “the best thing ever invented”.

“I can’t believe how well it works,” one said.

“It’s changed my life,” another wrote.

Originally published as Little-known Apple feature that helps car sickness sufferers